This month, we have been delighted to showcase Debora Martin Life’s ceramics during out October Tiny Gallery show. Learn more about her and her work below!
Debora Life grew up in Adena, a small coal-mining town in Ohio. She recalls her father having his own trucks and employees—while her mother kept both the books and the home—and cites observing them as one of her early influences: “That may have been an early exposure to seeing how things worked and what it took to keep a business up and running.”
Though her first real exposure to art, and pottery specifically, would come after a move to Marietta when she was 11. This larger school brought hands-on experience with pottery and various mediums. In terms of training, though, art is not what Life went to school for—on the contrary, she is a trained nurse.
Her first love of creation was really with plants. Life remembers “early passions include[ing] seeing the country by way of motorcycle riding with our daughters in a sidecar, then progressing to backseat passengers as they grew. We made several cross-country trips, falling in love with the West.”
After moving to Arizona, Life became a Master Gardner and then became involved with a Cactus Society that met monthly at the Botanical Garden in Phoenix. As she learned about the world and its nature, she came to a conclusion: “with plants you need pottery.”
Life began taking ceramic classes with every instructor she could at Arizona’s community colleges, and even after she moved to Columbia a few years ago, she continued this new love, working with pottery regularly at the City of Columbia Art Studio, which she still frequents.
“My work has evolved as I have improved with practice and having the time to explore new avenues. Working a few evenings at the City Studio every week, friendships have grown also,” she shares, adding that her love of gardening and pottery have begun to merge, “Using leaves and textures are often incorporated into my artwork. I also have chickens and vermiculture at my Rosewood home.”
In this Tiny Gallery show, Life has presented a plethora of practical yet beautiful pieces. Butter dishes and serving trays are lined with bright hues of cerulean or carved with individual faces and cities. The occasional pendant, animal, and even creature makes an appearance too.
This is only the most recent in South Carolina opportunities Life reflects on as poignant to her. She has attended various conferences, a pottery exhibit at the Chandler Center, and was a vendor at the Phoenix Botanical Garden during a Cactus Society Show and Sale.
On creating ceramic work, she reflects as such: “While I think of myself as someone who can carry out a task in a prompt fashion, pottery has been the most humbling of crafts that I have taken up.”
You can view Life’s work until October 31st at Jasper’s virtual gallery: https://the-jasper-project.square.site/tiny-gallery
In the future, you can see Life’s work at the State Fair (10/12-23), Sesquicentennial State Park (11/6), Melrose Art Crawl (11/20), and Midlands Clay Art Society and Cottontown Art Crawl (11/23).